First off, thank you to BookishFirst for giving me a free copy of this book!
I didn't enjoy Joan He's Descendent of the Crane, but this book has taught me the merit in giving authors a second chance, because I swallowed this up. Zephyr is an amazing protagonist, and her voice in the narration is so strong and so her. She is as cunning and competent as you'd expect a strategist like her to be, but she also carries many sides of herself (particularly her loyalty to Ren) which make her a very compelling character to follow and root for.
I have to admit, I had mixed feelings about the reveal towards the middle of the book. Without spoiling anything, I felt it sort of cheapened Zephyr's character and her experiences thus far, but to my surprise, the second half of the book was just as compelling as the first. After the reveal, a new conflict was brought to light, deepening the characters, as well as Zephyr's relationships with them. And it gave me a newfound respect for Lotus and Cloud, whom Zephyr previously treated with disdain.
There are a lot of directions I think this book could've gone (the plot developments sometimes felt too sudden; I wish I could've learned more about Zephyr as a strategist before the events of the book), but I genuinely enjoyed reading this as it was. I will definitely pick up the sequel when it comes out.
I didn't enjoy Joan He's Descendent of the Crane, but this book has taught me the merit in giving authors a second chance, because I swallowed this up. Zephyr is an amazing protagonist, and her voice in the narration is so strong and so her. She is as cunning and competent as you'd expect a strategist like her to be, but she also carries many sides of herself (particularly her loyalty to Ren) which make her a very compelling character to follow and root for.
I have to admit, I had mixed feelings about the reveal towards the middle of the book. Without spoiling anything, I felt it sort of cheapened Zephyr's character and her experiences thus far, but to my surprise, the second half of the book was just as compelling as the first. After the reveal, a new conflict was brought to light, deepening the characters, as well as Zephyr's relationships with them. And it gave me a newfound respect for Lotus and Cloud, whom Zephyr previously treated with disdain.
There are a lot of directions I think this book could've gone (the plot developments sometimes felt too sudden; I wish I could've learned more about Zephyr as a strategist before the events of the book), but I genuinely enjoyed reading this as it was. I will definitely pick up the sequel when it comes out.